Manoeuvres (2019)
By
Morgan Tipping
Photograph of video installation of Manoeuvres at SET. Photo credit: SET Gallery
Manoeuvres explores contemporary experiences of working culture and counter-culture
Manoeuvres explores contemporary experiences of working culture and was created in collaboration with mechanics from Swindon and filmmaker Tommy Chavannes.
I created the film for my 2019 Kahoon artist residency (exploring the issue of class in contemporary society) at SET Gallery. I also organised a Car Meet and BBQ at the gallery that introduced the narrators from the film and the local community. Local residents attended and shared stories and experiences relating to journeys, social mobility, working culture and creative expression.
To create Manoeuvres I spent a number of months seeking voices to examine issues connected with social mobility. By exploring the experiences of a former colleague at Swindon College (Louis Castle) I discovered a strong overlap between our inclusive, pedagogical approaches and attitude towards creative freedom. In meeting Swindon College student Robbie Eatwell, I gained insight into a younger perspective on these ideas and practices. We hear Louis and Robbie describe how modifying cars was not only a determining process of self-schooled ingenuity, but a portal into a range of creative subcultures. Their skilful manoeuvres around the pressures of working culture also reveal the limitations of institutional education in adapting to the gig economy.
In 1999 and 2002 Swindon was denied city status. The council determined that reapplying in 2012 would not be within the economic interests of the town. Like many towns, Swindon is a place where trickle-down economics has proved a leaky reality. Once famous for railways (and more recently for the impending closure of the Honda car factory) Swindon is a relic of industrialisation in the process of adapting to a new era. It is also the seat of a very ancient kingdom: Wiltshire, a place that has been and is witness to free parties and raves, Druidical and New Age gatherings, and car meets. For Marx, mechanised and stratified society enforced self-alienation.
Manoeuvres journeys through an expansive landscape that could seem alienating. The ambiguous and staged sites in the film recall repurposed industrial spaces (evoking free parties and clubs) in a humorous way and invite us to reconsider alienation in a slightly different light. I showed Manoeuvres and documentation of the Modified Mercs Car Meet alongside Mitchell Vowles' film 'It's still banging in 2019' at our Word Of Mouth exhibition, 2019 SET Gallery, Bermondsey.
To watch Manouevres, click the link below:
